The continued evolution to lower emittance synchrotrons and smaller beam size places greater demands on X-ray beam position stability at the experimental stations. Stability in synchrotron beams at the focus is critical for reliable data collection. The focus can be tens of meters away from the source point. X-ray mirrors have limits in stability due to environmental heating/cooling effects, ground stability underneath the mirror system or fluxuations in cooling water temperatures. Various factors can influence beam stability ranging from fast transients originating, for example, from brief mechanical disturbances to longer-term diurnal or seasonal drifts of building foundations.
What is needed is a device and method to sense the position of an x-ray beam during x-ray beam applications for enhanced x-ray beam stability and positioning.